Saudi Arabia tries hiding behind a soccer team

[Bloomberg]( Follow Us [Get the newsletter]( This is Bloomberg Opinion Today, an EPL team of Bloomberg Opinion’s opinions. [Sign up here](. Today’s Agenda - Saudi Arabia can’t [hide behind a soccer team](. - The [Trump SPAC is the ultimate meme stock](. - The supply problem [might really be a demand problem](. - People are [throwing money at hedge funds](. Saudi Arabia Goes Full Streisand A trope of this newsletter is the [Streisand effect](, that thing where you try to cover up something bad by telling people to stop talking about it, and then, oops, everybody is talking about it because you told them not to.  The first law of the Streisand effect is that nobody ever learns from prior examples of the Streisand effect. Some will at least try to finesse it, but these efforts inevitably fail as well. Saudi Arabia, for example, is [taking a stab at avoiding toxic publicity]( by buying an English Premier League team, Bobby Ghosh notes, which is sort of like buying a meat suit to avoid dogs. First, nobody likes owners of EPL teams, not even the fans of those teams. Second, have you heard the things British football fans say to each other? Like mean kids on the school bus, only drunker, they will pinpoint your most sensitive weakness and hammer away at it with chants, songs and signs they pass down for generations. Before Saudi Arabia’s new team, Newcastle United, played its first match under new ownership against Tottenham Hotspur, Spurs fans kicked around the idea of wearing Jamal Khashoggi [masks]( and chanting about beleaguered Newcastle manager Steve Bruce being [murdered]( like the journalist. Cooler heads prevailed, because Spurs fans are nothing if not classy. Instead they merely predicted Bruce’s inevitable [sacking](. But everywhere Newcastle goes now, fans and media will bring up all the things Saudi Arabia has done wrong for the past 50 years or so, from the Khashoggi murder to its abysmal treatment of women. The Streisand effect spares no one. Read the [whole thing](. The Meme Stonking Will Continue Until Morale Improves Because LOL nothing matters, as we [noted]( yesterday, the SPAC that will take Donald Trump’s [already-hacked]( social network public was up [130](% as of this typing. The action was so frenzied it had to be stopped 12 times today. Chris Bryant points out most of this sound and fury signifies nothing but people making quick profits by jumping in and out. But be warned: We are witnessing [the birth of a meme stock to end all meme stocks](. At least GameStop and AMC and Tesla have functioning businesses. And Bitcoin is at least useful for paying kidnappers and drug dealers. But Trump’s thing is just a hole into which people throw money at his command. And nothing is ever going to make them stop.   Bonus Meme Investment Reading: [Bitcoin’s latest rally isn’t about legitimacy]( but pure FOMO. — Lionel Laurent The Global Supply-Chain Crisis Is Neither Global Nor About Supply. Discuss. What makes solving our Shortages in Everything nightmare such a headache is that it’s like 40 different headaches, some of which feed on each other and none of which can be fixed by any one miracle cure. But we’re all going to yell at the Fed, or President Joe Biden, or [Denis Villeneuve](, to cure it anyway. Karl Smith suggests we’ve got this all wrong and that our “don’t just stand there, do something” energy could cause a mistake. His thesis has three parts: - The reason things are scarce or expensive right now is [not a problem of too little supply but of too much demand](. - This isn’t a global problem but an American problem. - The Fed shouldn’t squash it by raising interest rates because it will naturally go away on its own.  While we wait to see if he’s right, consumer goods companies are in a sweet spot. Andrea Felsted writes they’re [still able to pass their higher costs on to customers](, who are flush with cash and too busy arguing about the new “Dune” movie to notice their Cocoa Puffs box is a little less full. Bonus Supply-Chain Reading: Shortages and inflation [aren’t hurting demand at America’s factories](. — Brooke Sutherland Telltale Charts [Hedge funds are attracting investors again](, but they’re still underperforming broad market indexes, Mark Gilbert writes. Despite a global chip shortage, [Intel is in a deep hole and getting deeper]( as rivals lap its inferior products, writes Tae Kim. Further Reading Democrats will have to [limit themselves to one child-related plan](. They should stick to the tax credit. — Ramesh Ponnuru [Iran’s drone-strike capabilities are improving](, leveling the Middle East battlefield. — Eli Lake [German inflation is a problem for Europe](, which isn’t as ready for tighter policy. — John Authers [China’s vaccine diplomacy to Africa]( is lacking. — Clara Ferreira Marques [China’s deep-sea exploration is laying the groundwork]( for future military and commercial exploitation. — Adam Minter ICYMI The hot new thing is [buying property in Italy](. The [super-rich have a new club](. “Squid Game” [boosted Vans sales](. Here’s a [good cookie recipe](. Kickers Scientists [nearly achieve absolute zero](, at which light becomes liquid (!!!). (h/t Mike Smedley) Scientists build an ethical AI, [which turns out to be super-racist](. (h/t Scott Kominers) You can [predict stock returns using news photos](, maybe. Behold the “[impossible” crane shot]( from “Soy Cuba.” Notes:  Please send cookies and complaints to Mark Gongloff at mgongloff1@bloomberg.net. [Sign up here]( and follow us on [Twitter]( and [Facebook](. Like Bloomberg Opinion Today? [Subscribe to Bloomberg All Access and get much, much more](. You’ll receive our unmatched global news coverage and two in-depth daily newsletters, The Bloomberg Open and The Bloomberg Close. Before it’s here, it’s on the Bloomberg Terminal. Find out more about how the Terminal delivers information and analysis that financial professionals can’t find anywhere else. [Learn more](. You received this message because you are subscribed to Bloomberg's Bloomberg Opinion Today newsletter. [Unsubscribe]( | [Bloomberg.com]( | [Contact Us]( [Ads Powered By Liveintent]( | [Ad Choices]( Bloomberg L.P. 731 Lexington, New York, NY, 10022